Week One: Discussion Task #3
 
It is commonly accepted that the Circle Time is a special time when children are engaged in an open discussion, reading a story, participate in games or relaxation activities with the aim of learning new skills, practice verbal communication, developing emphatic listening skills…etc. These activities and games are also designed to promote respect and better understanding. Benefits of the Circle Time are obvious and self-evident to me but there are risks attached, as well.
 
Let me take all that a bit personally for a moment and say you have a kid who has been studying English at a school. That is great but maybe the kid feels a little lonely, maybe his motivations are dropping a bit, so you like to find a private language institute in your hometown. That is fine but one should be very careful when shopping around to choose a class for a loved one. Do not just go to the first class you find. If you are looking for a private academy and classes with tutors, be very careful. If you can, observe one of their class activities. And as you are looking at teachers and classes look at the students in during the Circle Time, too. Are they energized during the activities? Are they sitting up with their eyes open and really listening and seem to be enjoying the time? Are they participating? Are they talking or shouting? Are they positive and supporting? Will they encourage your kid, so he/she will feel happy, positive around them? Or they are kind of negative. You do not want those kinds of pupils to make you kid feels weaker, so the Circle Time is also important. And indeed these are the thoughts going to my head now as I plan and prepare for so called “The Market Day” at my English academy.
 
Well, I have arrived to the point when there is a good time for answering briefly the second question. In my view, the Circle Time must follow a well-established structure (opening game, open discussion, celebrations, and closing game) and timing. All that must be arranged in a way that builds a sense of belonging and where teachers encourage cooperation among children safely and freely. The group should have a relevant number of children, so everyone takes a full part in the activity and they all have fun whereas the teacher must be ready to deal with problems during the sessions when students for example persistently break the rules. I think that traditional teachers who are trained to demand responses from children are poorly prepared for facilitating the benefits Circle Time, which may prove to be bitterly disappointing and overly “mechanic” with everything repetitive and boring.

Comments

  1. Juan UribeApril 23, 2016 at 9:33 AM

    Dear Witold, 

    I couldn't agree more with you. One has to know how to do do circle time. It should be a moment of communion, of being together, of raising confidence. In my travels around the world I have witnessed what that circle time that happens only because it is part of the routine. Neither students nor teacher are present and as a consequence  emotionless language is displayed. In other words, a big lost chance of being together as people living the foreign language. 

    Students are invited to contribute but their participation should never be demanded. I like to always give them the possibility of saying pass. 

    I really like how you have structured circle time with the opening and closing games, discussion, and celebration moments. Another very important component of the class many teachers do not pay that much attention is the wrap up when we are able to show students' learning,  celebrate group work, make meaning, and share future plans. 

    You have pointed out the risks of having circle time without reflecting on our students' experience, Witold. Privileged are the children that live circle time with you! 

    Hugs from Toronto!!!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

TASK 2: Getting ready for storytelling.

TASK 2: Getting ready for storytelling. I have a group of 12 kids ranging from 7 to 8 years old. They are already familiarized with the characters of the book (Tina the tortoise, monkey, own, duck and rabbit). The leading character is Tina the tortoise. This is a pre-teaching activity and I bring realia objects to the classroom like: football, a coat, socks, a cap and a mug. I ask kids where Tina is: where is Tina? ( I act like I'm looking for her..) Oh look! Tina is in her shell! Tina come out and play! ( sound of a negative answer) Help me kids! Repeat: Tina come out and play! ( sound of a negative answer again). Let's try again but louder! Tina, come out and play! Tina answers: No, no! It's cold outside! I say: Tina let's swim! ( I make the gesture) Tina answers: no, no! It' cold outside! I let children have ideas showing the objects inside the box! Let's play football! Children keep trying to convince her (Put on a coat! Put on a cap! Put on your socks!). A...
Read more

Finding the right audience and making writing meaningful are two of the major challenges teachers face when...

Finding the right audience and making writing meaningful are two of the major challenges teachers face when designing writing activities. What affective strategies have you used that achieved these goals? Imagine asking a ten-year old student to write about the impact of the economic collapse in the USA. This student will not have much to say and he/she will feel frustrated. Now imagine asking a 17-year-old student to write about his/her favorite toy. This student will not feel excited to write about this because it is not part of his/her reality anymore. Of course, these are extreme examples, but we do have to take into consideration many aspects such as students's age, background, reality and interests when designing writing activities. Besides relating to students lives and realities writing acitivities should also cover three moments: pre writing, writing and post writing. In the first stage, we should activate students memories, feelings and senses providing them with the ...
Read more

Discussion task #2

Discussion task #2 Finding the right audience and making writing meaningful are two of the major challenges teachers face when designing writing activities. What affective strategies have you used that achieved these goals? 1) I try to personalize writing as much as possible. I usually start talking about myself to get students at ease and more open to share their own feelings and ideas towards the writing topic. Then I adapt the task to allow students to express themselves in a comfortable and confident way. 2) Finding the right audience is definitely a key issue in all writing tasks but it's even more important with young learners as they need to feel their writing is authentic and will be read by real audience. That's why I try to do peer check/correction before I read it myself. Whenever possible, I try to have students write to each other and reply back. As a different version of it, we created at our center (A wise owl) which students write to and get personalized replies...
Read more